Yemeni Mother Can Not See her Dying Son after US Waives Visa Ban

YemenExtra

SH.A.

A mother from Yemen has been granted her wish to see her dying toddler one last time, after the United States agreed to issue her a waiver from its ban on citizens from several Muslim majority countries.

The Yemeni mother of a 2-year-old boy on life support in an Oakland hospital was being prevented from coming to the country to say goodbye to her son by the Trump administration ban on travel from certain Muslim countries, the child’s family says.

Abdullah Hassan was born in Yemen with a rare brain disease that initially affected his ability to walk and talk but quickly worsened. He is no longer able to breathe on his own. His father, a U.S. citizen who lives in Stockton, brought him to UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland for care about five months ago, and Abdullah is not expected to live much longer.

The parents are ready to take Abdullah off life support, but they want his mother to have one more moment to hold him. So far, the U.S. State Department has ignored their pleas for a waiver to get her into the United States, they say.

But his mother, Shaima Swileh, had been unable to join him due to US President Donald Trump’s order barring visitors from six countries, including Yemen.

After a tearful televised plea from the boy’s father prompted public outrage, the US Embassy in Cairo issued a visa for Ms Swileh, who has been living temporarily in Egypt.

She will arrive in San Francisco later today, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Muslim civil rights group that assisted the family.

She voiced relief at the waiver but added: “So many families are still torn apart by the heinous travel ban.”, “We can’t stop until we end this un-American policy for good,” she wrote on Twitter.